Book Review: Splendor of Silence by Indu Sundaresan

Hello friends! Let me tell you about my most recent read - The Splendor of Silence by Indu Sundaresan.

This lushly descriptive book began slowly (read a description here...) with the first 200 pages foreshadowing the heart-rending tragedy and giving historical backgound of the time of British occupation in India. I felt like I had to trudge through these 200 pages, as a Georgia girl slogging through knee-deep snow, and it took me weeks to do so. However, the story then began to pick up pace and snowballed to a finish that was suspenseful up to the last five pages off the book.

I enjoyed the lyrical writing of Sundaresan, flowing and descriptive in a detailed way that is obiously Indian. She does not waste one single word, and her descriptions of the Sukh dessert, chiffon saris, curried food, and round characters left me feeling as if I had taken a quick trip east. She obviously has a great love for India.

How did I like it? Well, it was a very sad story. Compared to The Bronze Horseman, I would rate this a six and a half out of ten... (I would rate The Bronze Horseman an 11 of ten...) The passion and love was there, the story good, but I wanted a little more, er, how shall I say it, detail of this passion and love. I think I prefer more epic type books. I enjoyed this book, but I will not likely seek out more by this author.

You will remember that I'm part of a reading challenge called Mixology 2010. And I hate it that must admit this early in the year that I'm straying slightly from my goals. I had challenged myself to read every selection chosen by my book club this year, and I'm not going to complete that challenge. One person chose a German theological depresser entitled Letters from Prison by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I did purchase the book. My friendly reader HK will be delighted to know that I even know the person who translated from its original German into English. I even tried to read this book. But I just couldn't do it. It was as much a struggle to read one page as if it were still IN German, and I just decided that book club books should be more fun. Since the person who selected that book didn't even read it, I'm letting myself off the hook with this one. So here's one more tick for the category of "Book Club Books."

The Future of Publishing

So very clever... and very true... (Not my creation, by the way.)

Book Review: Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji

This month's I'm reviewing my book club selection - Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji. I actually chose this book, and was drawn to it because the jacket categorized it as a coming of age story... I always love a good sweet and salty coming of age story. I also liked the cover too. The lure of a cultural images so foreign to mine will draw me in every time. (=

Anyway, set in early 1970s Tehran, this book gives a charming snapshot of Persian/Iranian culture - one I'm not familiar with in the least. Seraji wrote with the explicit intention of exposing American readers to details of Iranian life that they would never be privy to otherwise. Always a little old fashioned myself, I enjoyed reading about the polite, gentle courtship of the main characters of the story and the sweet friendship of the protagonist and his best friend. These descriptions are obviously very real to the writer and to me where his writing really sparkles. Based on his writing, Seraji seems to be a very tender man

The story unfolds in a series of flashbacks which crescendo to the wrenching climax. While it was suspenseful, I didn't find myself longing to read this book while at work or rushing to find out the outcome. All in all, this was a simple story, pretty-well told. The writer's command of English (not his native language) is great. My friends are all rushing through reading it, so maybe my lackadaisical reading of it is indiciatve of the place I am in my personal life today.

Final verdict: while not a soul-stirring page-turner, this book was enjoyable and worth a read, if you've got the time.

As far as the Mixology 2010 Challenge, this will count as one book club selection and one book about foreign culture. So I've now finished the foreign culture section (lofty as it was... 2 books! Hey, just reading perpetually is my real challenge... give me a break!)... you can bet that a classic will be my next book club selection... I've been recommended to start with Jane Austen... do you have a recommendation for me? I'd love to hear it if you do.

Book Review: The Summer Garden by Paullina Simons

Okay. I told you about The Bronze Horseman. I told you about Tatiana and Alexander. Now I will tell you about the third and final book in the trilogy, The Summer Garden.

I read one review about this book that said something like, "this book goes on too long and should really only be read by hard core fans of the series that absolutely must know what happened to their favorite star-crossed lovers." And while I enjoyed the book, I agree with whoever it was that said that. I loved the characters, and that's what kept me reading. The story, however, just went on like a Russian winter. Touching all of the major crossroads that most married couples come to, and many that they don't, I feel that there were several places the book could've ended logically. Instead, we're led to a cheesy portrait of two old people sitting on a bench together, one eating icecream, just like when the story first began over 1500 pages ago. That felt contrived and silly. It did delve more into the past of our heroine, which I liked and felt like was some of the best part of the story of all three books.

But hear me when I say that I loved this book. I couldn't put it down. I was sad when I finished. I miss Tatiana and Alexander... and if anything else, this portrait of Tatiana as Superwoman, Superwife and Supermom, while unrealistic, helps me strive to be better at all of the jobs I do.

Because they were in the US in this book, it can't qualify as a book about foreign culture. So this will only count to increase my total number of books read for the Mixologoy 2010 Challenge. Three down, twelve to go. (Can't believe I've already read so much so early in the new year...)

Book Review: French Milk by Lucy Knisley

This past Christmas, my wonderful hubby gave me for Christmas several books that were on my Amazon Wish List. One of those, French Milk by Lucy Knisley, had been on my list for a while.

French Milk is part travel journal, part sketchbook, part "Dear Diary." Now, I admit, these travel memoirs are a favorite genre of mine. You've got your soul-bearing expose, your cultural commentary, or should I culture clash comedy. It just so happens that many of these books are about France, as this one obviously is too... (hmmm... maybe that's my "fascination" with French culture... perhaps books about France are all that are commercially available... H.K., time to write A Year in the Sheisse... =) )

Knisley details a month-long trip she took with her mother to Paris just before she graduated from college. In my opinion, the story line is a bit too insipidly-generic-college-graduation-angst-y. But the drawings that comprise the bulk of the heft and beauty of this book are delightful. As it is said, "A picture is worth a thousand words," and I believe this goes for drawings as well. When Knisley sat down in a spot and drew what was around her, you're seeing everything that was important her. It's like a glimpse right into her heart, and that is cool.

So, if you love to travel, and you love Paris, and you love graphic books, this book will be interesting to you. But if whiney college-aged kids grate on your nerves, you'd better pass this one up.

For the Mixology 2010 Challenge, this will count as a book about another culture. This means, that I've already wiped that (not very challenging) category! Hey, I take what I can get. Progress is progress. Two down thirteen to go.

P.S. If you're interested, you can click here to see some sketches I did way back when when I did some traveling "last century."

Book Review: Tatiana and Alexander

*Spoiler Alert for The Bronze Horseman*

Last week, I reviewed The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons. I shared with you how much I loved it. However, I didn't share with you that the ending was beYOND sad... it was so heart-breakingly, dramatically heart-rending that fifty pages before I finished reading it, I nearly put it down (with sobs, mind you) because I didn't know if I could withstand the ending (of this fiction novel... what can I say... I'm a sap...). But I finished it, cried a few more buckets and mourned the loss of the characters the way I always do when I finish a really engaging book.

So I went online to look for other books by Simons, and guess what I found out... The Bronze Horseman is only one book in a TRILOGY! There are two more books about Tatiana and Alexander to read!

Hooray!

I immediately purchased a used copy of the second book, Tatiana and Alexander. At $20 plus shipping, I felt this was a bit high... but it turns out this book is a little bit hard to find... not in libraries, etc. Perhaps it was published in the UK. The third book in the series, The Summer Garden, couldn't be had for less than $70 when I looked, but a friend was able to find a less expensive copy. I've already read the second book (in a record three days... haven't read this fast since I read Breaking Dawn...) and will be starting on the third this weekend. (Can't wait!)

Anyway, Tatiana and Alexander did not disappoint... me at least. This book weaves together the stories of the two main characters in two veins: their lives 1) before they met and 2) after they parted at the end of The Bronze Horseman. It is FILLED with war and gulags and post WWII New York and daring European rescue attempts, tempered with (steamy) memories of the characters' time together along with creation of a few more. I will not spoil for you how this one ends... you'll have to read it yourself.

For the Mixology 2010 Challenge, this book will count as as a book about another culture. So, one down... fourteen to go!

Book Review: Ten Things About "The Bronze Horseman"

Ten Things About The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons

1. This is one long story. At 800 plus pages though, it kept me happily reading through a long snowy weekend and several nights after the snow was cleared away. Simply put, I could not stop reading this book... very inconvenient when read during the midst of a busy holiday season. (This book will not count toward my Mixology 2010 challenge because I read it in December.)
2. Taking place in the Soviet Union just as it enters World War II, there is no shortage of strife, famine, misery or destitution in this novel. Take heed: it is not for the faint at heart.
3. There is no shortage of, um, er, romance either. If you're looking for a story that will heat you up on these longs winters nights, well, I'll just leave it at that and let you read for yourself.
4. No hot love story is ever as sweet as an innocent love story.
5. I never realized before, but the USSR was a cruel, unusual, machine that took away every freedom that I enjoy as an American. The masses were pacified not with any small comfort or assurance that life would be better, but with liberal distribution of vodka. If people weren't paranoid, hungry, or lacking basic needs of privacy, it is only because they were too drunk to notice.
6. People will do strange things for the people they love.
7. Hope floats... a lot and for a long way.
8. I am lucky to be a citizen of the United States of America, and I am grateful to all of the public servants and warriors who have secured my place in its history.
9. I am always amazed to learn how crude life was for people all over Europe in the 1940s and 50s... not just in the USSR.
10. No matter what the cost, I always believe that honesty is the best policy.

Mixology Challenge

Last week, I told you about Babbette's Book Blog and about her Mixology 2010 Challenge. Well, in the spirit of participation, I've made my choices.

In 2010, it is my goal to read 15 books. I know, this is not a lofty challenge... but at least it's a goal.

The categories and numbers I would like to read are:

• classics - 2
• non-fiction - 3
• books about other cultures, fiction or non-fiction - 2
• book club choices (this is like a random field because we don't limit our selections to any certain category or genre) - 12

Now, I realize if I meet these goals, it will give me more than fifteen books. But I already know some of the ones I plan to read cross categories, so I'm going to stick with the plan.

In addition, I am adding my own component of the challenge which is to give you a short review of each of the books I've read. I've already read two this year (I was on a trip...) and I'll start getting those reviews together soon.

If you are taking the Mixology Challenge with me, post a comment and let me know!

Swestie Loves a Good Book

I went to a small private elementary school that embraced several "alternative" learning styles. When other kids were learning math facts, we were learning sophisticated ways to count on our fingers. When other kids were using stilted reading primers we were (forced to be) reading real books... fifty of them each year.

Yes, fifty. Now, if a kid already appreciated the escape of reading, this was great news. But I was not one of those kids. I, who was generally a cheerful and diligent student, slugged through my way through fifty books for three years, with all of the joy of a pig in a bath. As a matter of fact, the one time I remember being sent to my room as a kids was one weekend when I had until Monday to read 5 books... my mom brought my meals to my room on a tray so I wouldn't be distracted. After the third year of forced indenture to books, I equated reading with torture... and luckily changed schools too.

I would willingly pick up about one book per year after that, but encountered a change when I heard some friends in high school talking about a novel they were reading for English class... it wasn't at classic! (Gasp!) It wasn't a text book! (Oh my!) It was a current bestseller at the time! (Almost cool!) I read that book, and it was the first piece of fiction that spoke to my adolescent heart in a way that made me want to read more and more and more.

As an adult, I have loved vacation for the chance to put the feet up and read non-stop, but I've always been a little disappointed that I haven't made time to read more. Recently I became a part of a reading group that has been so much fun and gotten me regularly reading again! Yea! Thank you book club! I love reading suggestions that I wouldn't have necessarily found myself and going on the journey of a book with friends around me.

Well, along these lines, I've reconnected with an old friend and she has a wonderful book blog called Babbette's Book Blog. And for 2010, she's posed a reading challenge which I hereby accept. Read about it here.

I'm going to devise my plan for the challenge and let you know... we'll have to see how it goes! Happy reading!

Sidewalk Yoga (Used from Yoga Journal)

You know that I'm a yoga teacher. I've taught for nearly seven years, and teaching has provided many things to me: confidence, income, authority. Even more importantly I've received tools I've needed to help me slow down to enjoy life more, and judge myself less.

When I started blogging, I thought I would write frequently about yoga. But I don't actually think I've written about it even once. Today, I'm not going to personally write about it either because I've found someone who shares my exact sentiment. So I am going to share with you, this shortie I am copying from the magazine Yoga Journal. I haven't asked them permission, and I hope they don't sue me or get grumpy with me. Because for the record, I do not make any money off of this site, and furthermore, I hope that this snippet will encourage you to go out and get a copy (or a subscription) yourself of Yoga Journal! (Now the drawing above is actually mine, though!)

Just like you, I often have hard time finding time to fit all of the things into my day that I want, especially yoga. That's why I love this article: finding ways to fit some peace in our real life, even while walking down the street.

Sidewalk Yoga - A New Yorker finds peace on the street. by Sara Little

A remarkable quality that many New Yorkers share is the ability to move at top speed. Shortly after moving to Manhattan, I found myself brumbling at slow walkers and quickly zigzagging around them on sidewalks like a seasoned city dweller. Then one day I noticed a billboard that read: "Where are you going?" I was floored by the simplicity of the question. I was going to yoga class - at a blurring pace, as usual, but I wasn't even late. In an instant I recognized a conflict with my practice: I was violently throwing one foot in front of the other with a scowling mind, oblivious to the world, annoyed with people who had every right to walk comfortably as I went to my class, where I expected to find peace and relaxation on my mat.

I committed to practicing sidewalk yoga, which for me was a way of mindfully practicing ahimsa (nonharming) with myself an others. Walking became a meditation that immediately led to other revelations. Because I chose to focus on slowing down, I became witness to the miracles happening all around. A man in an expensive suit helping a young mother carry a giant stroller down the subway steps. Concerned passersby stopping to pick up oranges that had rolled off a fruit vendor's cart. And old man quickly pulling a child back on the sidewalk as a car ran a red light. Kindness everywhere, in this city of fast walkers. I learned to appreciate the yoga of each moment, the yoga that occurs when we are in the world with open eyes and light feet.

Book Review: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

About six years ago, a friend gave me a copy of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. The inscription said, "I'm sure this will keep you up late many nights like it did me!" Well, I can tell you that I did labor over this book many nights, but not because it was such a page-turner. My reading of this book was much more along the lines of, start reading, fall asleep after just a few terribly sad paragraphs. And I must admit that I never really finished it, even though I started it three separate times.

However, recently a friend in my book club suggested this book. It had been so long since I tried to read it that I had forgotten I even had it and went out and bought another copy. D'oh! Since I hadn't finished the previous two books for my book club, I was determined to finish this one. I wrestled with it for about a month before I finished it (keep in mind, I read ALL 2200 pages of the Twilight Saga in only ten days...), and I never, ever looked forward to picking it up. But at least I got engaged enough with the characters this time to keep on keepin on, and I suppose I'm glad I did.

Let me back up a little. This book (synopsis here) is a character-driven novel about a few different people in a dusty Southern town in the 1930s. Of course, the people are all poor: of pocket, gumption and spirit. They experience one terrible thing after another. Then, just when you think the worst has befallen them, something manages to top even that. Sheesh. It was about the saddest thing I've ever read.

As I researched the book to tell you about it, I learned why it was so sad... it is part of the Southern Gothic genre, of which I knew naught... probably because it's so stinking sad and depressing! This is the way some of my Southern family members grew up and have tried their darndest to shield me from it! Why would I want to read about it? Why should I is a whole other question completely which is why I perservered...

I do like a sad story from time to time, like Atonement, Brokeback Mountain, or White Oleander (they were all books first)... but really, there wasn't much a plot to The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. While each person was struggling individually, there was no over-arching story line to bring it together... just misery on top of misery, sometimes overlapping, sometimes solitary. The hear is a LONELY hunter, you know. And then, just when McCullers would foreshadow some juicy tidbit of information about one character just enough to keep you reading, she never brought the goods forth! 50 pages from the end, I looked up how it ended. I know! I'm a cheater! But I was looking for something, anything to give me some hope about the ending. Well, when I read how it ended, I just about threw the book out the window. But I figured I'd wacked my way through 208 pages of this giant bush so far that I might as well go on to the finish.

Now as I WAS shielded from this type of thing growing up, I did appreciate the slices of life it showed to me. And mostly, it recharged the gratitude I have for my sweet life for about the next fifty years. My life is filled with joy, light, contenment and happiness, peppered with moments of elation, irritation, worry, woe and ecstacy. So, now that I've been exposed to the genre, don't expect for me to be reading any more Southern Gothic novels for a while (unless Pat Conroy is considered Southern Gothic. I love his work and he has the first new book out in fourteen years!)... and if you decide to try one, don't say you weren't warned. But, if you do start one and manage to finish it, you might not be sad you did.

Backlog-o-Books

You might have noticed that I recently added my Amazon wish list to my blog. I don't want you to actually buy me books. I simply thought you might like to see what I've got on my reading list...

Now I must admit, they are pretty low on the list, as I haven't even got them yet! Well, I take that back. I did just recently purchase My Life in Paris... it was an impulse buy from Sur la Table that I got when I got my cool new Dutch oven. Anyway... like I was saying...

Between my husband, kids and myself, we've got so many books, we don't know what to do with them all. I had put these shelves up when this was our office nook, and they held bills, office supplies, etc. Then, after I moved the computer out of the nook (too cramped!) we just had knick knacks and stuff on the shelves... now they are the repository for homeless books... namely cookbooks (bottom shelf), special children's books, sheet music, and books I haven't read yet!

A few titles on the list are:

• Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji
• When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin
• Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson
• Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Which one should I read next?

Book Review: Glorious One Pot Meals

I consider the onset of school/fall to be like "New Year's Eve Light..." the time of year when I get my booty back inside of the house in the evening and cook balanced meals for my family instead of well, just winging it every night. My recent viewing of Julie and Julia further inspired me to pull out the old cookbooks... and, well, cook. YUM.

I just love to cook. I'm not really a recipe creator, but I will experiment with flavors/ textures/ ingredients that I suspect will work together... for the record, hot dogs sliced thinly are NOT a fitting substitution for pepperoni... anyway, I digress.


Last spring, I purchased a cookbook called Glorious One Pot Meals. (I like to say it like this: GLORIOUS one pot meals... you have to si-i-i-ng it, a la Julia...) Because it required use of an enameled cast iron Dutch oven which I didn't have, I didn't dive in to the recipes right away. But as my personal mini new year presented itself, I figured it was time to get started. So I went to the store to get the specified cast iron Dutch oven. Based on the size of meals I intended to prepare, I purchased the 3.5 quart version.

I've never been much for expensive jewelry, and I must admit that I've never seen the likes of a little blue box from Tiffany's. However, I admit that I'd much rather see an orange box like this one come into my house any day. Honey, I hope you're reading!

The premise of this cookbook is that you use fresh, healthy ingredients layered into a Dutch oven in a specific order, and then place the whole concoction in a hot oven (450 degrees) for around 45 minutes, and you've got a meal. It's like the anti-slow cooker... for those days when you just can't get your evening meal together in the wee small hours of the morning. The cooking time of 45 minutes is a rough estimate... the author, Elizabeth Yarnell, suggests that the meal is fully cooked a few minutes after the aroma of a fully cooked and savory meal wafts out of the oven.

She is right.

For my first try, I chose Savory Port-Mushroom Chicken. Following the directions almost completely to a T, the meal was simple to prepare and really did taste GLORIOUS.

Twilight - Fantasy Cast by Swestie

I promise I'm not going to keep posting about the Twilight Saga. However, I couldn't resist just one more... Let me give you a little background...

I hadn't really heard anything at all about Twilight - books or movie. Then my husband told me that his mom had read them... hm... I thought. She doesn't do a lot of reading. This is very interesting.

Then a girl in my book group suggested that we read Twilight. Collectively eye roll... it appeared none of us wanted to read a book for young adults. When I went to my local used bookstore, just four days before my club meeting, I was surprised that they didn't have Twilight. The squirrely lady behind the ancient, cracked counter told me that she couldn't keep them in stock. Hm. I wonder what all the fuss is about!

So I watched the movie the night before my book club meeting. I figured it would give me enough information at least not to feel left out of the discussion with my friends. And it did! I really enjoyed the movie. Furthermore, I was intrigued with the passion that the girls who had read the book spoke of each individual characters... like they were real people... even the peripheral characters... hm... and these were the girls who didn't even want to read the book in the first place!

So I borrowed Twilight and New Moon from my mother-in-law and plunged in, subsequently neglecting hearth and home for the better part of ten days, as I zipped through those two, and then greedily purchased Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, wolfing them voraciously as well. It's a good thing my kids were out of town at the time and that my husband can fend for himself, cause if it didn't HAVE to get done, it DIDN'T. I plowed through the entire 2200 odd pages of the four books in record time, enjoying every suspenseful second and feeling bereft when there were no more pages to read.

Then I watched the movie again. I was shocked by how little I thought of it while reading the books. Then I was, of course, dismayed that it wasn't as faithfully rendered as a fan could've hoped. Then I was bewildered by the choices of actors to play the roles. So here's how I would've cast the movie version of Twilight.

Bella: Kristen Stewart - no change; I thought she played a perfect awkward but thoughtful teenager girl.

Edward: Rob Lowe as he was in his 1980s Brat Pack perfection. To me, he is eternally beautiful and seems to have more of the build that Stephanie Meyer writes about in the books... Bella was always talking about his beautiful face and his perfect chest... Robert Pattinson doesn't have much chest at all...

Esme Cullen: Elizabeth Reaser - no change. She fit the bill of doting (vampire) mother perfectly.

Carlisle Cullen: Simon Baker; I must admit that Peter Facinelli, the actor who played this role in the movie, IS quite beautiful and had the right presence to play Carlisle. However, in order to stick to the book's descriptions, they bleached his hair blonde which made him look strange to me... Simon Baker is just as pretty, with an even more suave manner, and also already has the requisite blonde hair.

Alice Cullen: Ashley Greene - no change. Spritely, beautiful, graceful. A better than perfect Alice. I especially loved her speaking voice.

Jasper Hale: Jason Lewis (of Sex and the City fame); I really think that Jackson Rathbone fit the bill perfectly, except for the hair. He has dark hair, and Jasper is supposed to have light hair. The color change looked strange to me... although I do love this guy in the baseball scene. Anyway, Jason Lewis is vampire hot and already has blonde hair... but like Rob Lowe, we'd have to reverse-age him a little for him to fit the bill.

Emmett Cullen: Ashton Kutcher - let me 'splain. In all of the books, I feel like Emmett has this wacky sense of humor - like Ashton Kutcher... and the wicked good looks - like Ashton Kutcher... and also the suave factor - like Ashton Kutcher. Kellan Lutz, the guy in the movie, had the same light dark hair problem that makes our vampires even deader than they really should look, and he really didn't do much for me looks wise. He wasn't vampire beautiful. I do love it though when he runs up the tree, sticks the landing and lobs the baseball back to the infield... "monkey man" that he is...

Rosalie Hale: Portia de Rossi/Nikki Reed. Again, lemme splain. Reed, who played Rosalie in the movie, is drop-dead, knock-out GORGEOUS. But not as a blonde. I felt like there was no point in the movie that she could've been considered the prettiest girl in the room...not even next to "plain" Bella... maybe the craziest dressed (and I like some daring clothing!), but NOT the most beautiful. Hair and makeup people, sorry, but you did her WRONG. So I would either choose her with a more flattering hair color, or Portia de Rossi, again a natural blonde and certainly often the most beautiful woman in a room...

I liked all of the other characters as they were played, especially the goofy school teacher. What a riot he is! However, HOW they are going to beef up Taylor Lautner to 6'5" and still growing stature for the future movies is beyond me!

*Note: my second choice for Edward is below: Gilles Marinia (below). Hot! Hot! and Hot! Maybe even too hot for vampires... but probably so brown he'd be too hard to pale down to vampire-level pallor.

**Second note: when I started to actually consider who I would choose, I realized that casting these roles must've been a real bear. Most of he characters had to both beautiful AND young. For my part, I don't know many young actors and actresses. So that's why I called the cast I assembled above a Fantasty, oops, I mean Fantasy Cast. =) Happy movie watching!

Book Review or Ten Things I loved About "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer

10) Twilight is the first in a series of four amazingly popular books about a vampire with a conscience and his youthful, blushing (HUMAN) lady love. Written by sensation Stephanie Meyer, from the point of view of a girl of seventeen year-old-girl (Bella Swan), the simple prose is clear, and lacking in the horror and gore that is usually off-putting or even frightening in a "usual" vampire story. Because of the intended audience for her book (young adult), Meyer writes a story that is suspenseful yet not scary, innocent despite the heat, straight forward yet thought-provoking, and (thankfully) lacking in the histrionics one might expect of a "young adult book about vampires in love."

9) Despite her intended audience, Meyer has created characters with as many layers as a southern belle's prom dress in the 1950s. You love them. You hate them. You yell at them. You cry with them. And because of the depth of these characters (not your cookie-cutter vampires and teenagers), mothers (who sneak to read Twilight after their giggly, brace-toothed daughters have moved on the next new thing) are just as engrossed and enamored of each character and their personal stories as their daughters were with Rob Pattinson (the actor who plays the main vampire character in the movie version of Twilight).

8) These vampires are pretty dog gone cool. Now based on nearly every vampire account we've ever seen in our lives ("I VANT to DVINK jour BLOOD!"), don't we all have the idea that vampires must always have a severe widow's peak, long and pointy canine teeth, a terribly guttural eastern-European accent and be dressed in all black clothes that haven't been changed since well, 1842? Well welcome to the 21st century vampire, boys and girls... to be so cold, these vampires are smokin' hot! They have a never-ending flow of money; they are smart because of their decades of education; they all have a penchant for driving insanely fast and beautiful cars; and they are all gorgeous... nice... friendly (even if for their own "selfish" reasons)... I'd probably have let myself be seduced if I were Bella Swan too! (I must admit that you don’t really get a clear picture of how friendly they are in Twiligh… that comes out in later books…) Below are my personal choices for the cars I would drive if I were a vampire...

7) I love the study of a creature's nature that is brought about when comparing humans to vampires. The vampire family is so obviously different from the humans in their world. By Bella's struggle to hang with the vampire Cullens family, it is an interesting study on what makes us all human. To me, these vampires are entirely more “human” than many people I come across in the world everyday.

6) I love the innocence of these characters. The main vampires in Twilight were mostly "young" for vampires - about a century old. Aside from their (literally) humane "vegetarianism" (they only drink animal blood) they maintain surprisingly Victorian morals despite their 21st century facade of cool clothes and cars (merely distractions). So even though Edward loves Bella with a passion that could easily be quantified as obsession, and every time he kisses her, it's a struggle not to kill her for her delicious-smelling blood, his true struggle is with feeling selfish for putting her in danger and ruining her human life. Even though she begs him to change her into a vampire so they can be together forever, pain- and danger-free, he doesn't want to damn her soul the way he feels his is. Chivalry lives, my friends! Even Bella seems to have escaped the self-obsessed preoccupation of the stereotypical teenager, which is probably why Edward likes her to begin with.

5) You actually get to enjoy the characters being happy together. Now, you can call me a cheeseball if you want to because I love reading about the happy ending of the couple... Usually the “happily ever after part” is a toss-away at the end of a book. As a kid, I can't tell you how many epilogues I wrote to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory because I just wanted to imagine Charlie's life after he got the good things that were coming to him. Meyer pens the couple together way before the end of the book so at least you can appreciate their love. I guess what I'm saying is that "he loves me, he loves me not" is not the point of this story. It's just a factor that causes much more drama to swirl up and around fair Bella and thirsty Edward, and the story is the main focus.

4) The way I came to read Twilight is this: it was requested by my friend as a book group suggestion. I had neither the time nor inclination to read the book before we met, but I did watch the movie version. I was surprised at the fervor the other readers spoke with about the book when we got together in the twilight to meet (coincidence)... The movie had been enjoyable, so I decided to take a chance on the book... well luckily, my kids were out of town because for the next ten days or so, Bella and the Cullens family (and don't forget Jacob) were all I could think about as I sped-read through all four books in the series (now referred to as The Twilight Saga) in about a week. Anyway, I don't want to make this a movie review because once the book was read and I watched the movie again (just for proper comparison's sake) it paled in comparison... but the soundtrack to the movie, however has hooked me in a BIG way... you're listening to three of my favorite songs right now... it is all that has played in my car for the last week!

3) On Stephanie Meyer's web site, she tells about writing Twilight in the middle of the desert heat of Phoenix one summer, and how she remembers that summer as being cool and green and wet. I loved the way I felt like I was cold and damp, right in the middle of Washington myself. The movie does provide stunning visuals of the nature of the Olympic peninsula, and it does not disappoint... Forks, actually a real town, might actually be the rainiest town in the United States, but it is situated in a location almost as impossibly beautiful as our vampire hero himself.

2) You can say what you want to, but Myer creates a story that is intricate and suspenseful. If you can get over yourself and actually enjoy reading "a book written about vampires for a preteen audience," you will see that Twilight is a well-crafted story with layers upon layers of dimension, that only serve to thicken the plot for the subsequent books and provide a backdrop that is as close to believable as science fiction gets.

1) I read somewhere that Twilight has become a "pop culture phenomenon." Wow. I usually don't like being a part of those. While I did see Titanic, I only saw it once, and if it had a book that went along with it, I certainly didn't read it. I'm not in touch with pop music except when I have to be (teaching classes at the gym has a strange way of hooking you in to the newest, happenin' hit...), and I don't watch vampire TV shows. But I will freekt admit, in front of the internet and everybody, that the characters and the story of Twilight have swept me away into the glorious cloud of fiction in a way that I haven't been swept up in maybe ten years. Plowing through the entire 2000 pages of the series, I kept feeling like I should put the breaks on and slow down. But the pleasure of the suspense, the sympathy for the characters, and my hunger (thirst!) for more just couldn't hold me back. I was thankful for every one of the seeming never-ending pages. Upon waking, Bella and Edward were the first thing I though about (like I said, my kids were out of town). If I woke up in the night to go to the bathroom, I at least considered staying awake to read... once I even did it.

So there you go. Ten Things I loved about Twilight. On to the New Moon...

Book Review: Chi Running

"So what IS Chi Running, afterall?" you ask.

Well, let's start with the easy part...

Running is a common form of exercise for people looking to get/stay fit. Technically, it differes from walking by the fact that both feet are off the ground at the same time. (When walking, one foot remains in contact with the ground at all times.) When done properly, and with good technique, a runner can run for a lifetime, pain- and injury-free.

Some good reasons to run are:

1. Running is easy because the only equipment required is a good pair of shoes and an open road.
2. It is inexpensive because it doesn't require monthly membership dues or joining fees.
3. It "travels" well, and is actually a super way to discover the lay of the when visiting new places.
4. When you get fitter and want more challenge, just run faster...
5. These days, there are running groups galore to join when you're looking to make new friends.

"But that's not my experience!" you say. I HEAR you loud and clear, because I've been there... limping on cranky knees, hobbling on be-bunioned feet and wondering how in the world something so "easy" and "healthy" could land me on the sidelines of my first marathon. Well let's talk this through.

When did you learn how to run? Well, when you were just little tyke, careening toward your mother's outstretched, cookie-laden hands. As a kid, you most likely ran well and often on the playground. Then as you aged, if you picked up running as a form of exercise, you probably just laced up your sneakers and plunged head-first in... until the pain.* Some people run through the pain, eventually ending up with surgeries... and some people just quit.

But here's another question for you: if you were going to take up the sport of golf, wouldn't you enlist in a few lessons to get you started off on the right foot? Or if you were going to take up watercolor painting, wouldn't you take a class? If you were new to the gym, wouldn't you enlist the expertise and guidance of a personal trainer to show you proper form and technique? Why on Earth then would we think that we could take up a sport like running with no instruction, class or guidance, and expect to succeed?

In his book Chi Running, author Danny Dreyer teaches us about the beautiful, wonderful machine that is the human body. With lots of photographs and exercises for illustration, this book describes how, when properly aligned and using its chi, your body is naturally equipped with all of the shock absorption it needs to avoid injury due to overuse. Of course, this isn't quite as simple as it sounds and involves such details as: perefecting your posture; using a forefront footstrike; keeping your cadence withing a certain range, and lots more. I read through the book easily, and its conversational tone left me wishing I could meet Danny Dreyer himself.

I can just hear you now, "What is chi, and where and where can I get me some?" Well, you can't go out and buy it, that's for sure! Chi is an Eastern concept, and it is essentially your life force... your personal energy. It exists in all living things, even in plants, and space. When you are properly aligned, using your chi, running is easy, and will feel natural like a lope across the plains, as opposed to an obstacle course through treacherous woods. Harnessing your chi is a "less is more" concept and one that is learned over time and should be practiced regularly (just like almost anything worth doing!).

For me personally (I'm a hands-on learner), the book wasn't enough for me to really feel the concepts of Chi Running. I tried it a few times and did not quite get the pain-free results I desired. So I turned to Chi Living, the parent company of Chi Running. Their web site has all sorts of helpful tools on your journey toward perfect running form . I highly recommend the site as a resource for you if you are interested in learning Chi Running, (There is also Chi Walking, if you're so inclined...) enrolling in a Chi Running workshop, purchasing products, or even reading Danny Dreyer's inspiring and informative blog (often with video clips!). I ended up enrolling in a Chi Running workshop, and it did not fail to satisfy! Six months later, I'm still running, and not a complaint from any joint in my body! More about that next time...

*Note: if you know of someone who has run for years without a complaint, they probably are running with beautiful, natural chi running form... it does come naturally to some people!

Running on Empty

The magical wonders of Facebook have recently put me back in touch with so many old friends from my home town. I've had so much fun catching up with folks who I would likely never spoken to again. As it turns out, one of those friends is a fellow runner. He's a relative newcomer to the sport, while I now consider myself a well-seasoned junkie, having been running (on and off) for nearly half of my life now (don't even THINK of asking my age...).

This friend of mine suggested that I read this book about an ultramarathon runner named Dean Karnazes. The book is called Ultra Marathon Man: Confessions of an All Night Runner. Now, for your information, an ultramarathon is, technically, any distance longer than a Marathon (26.2 miles).

Now, just so you know, the Marathon got it's name waaaayyyy back in ancient Greece when Pheidippiedes, a Greek soldier, was sent from the town of Marathon, Greece, 26.2 miles away to Athens to announce that the Persians had been miraculously defeated in the Battle of Marathon. Yay! However, Pheidippiedes croaked soon after he delivered his message. Booo!

Enter into the drama: all sorts of crazy folks from all over the world trying to accomplish Pheidippides feat, without dying at the end. I can say that I am one of those looney toons with a (yes, only one, so far) successful marathon finish to my name. I trained for and completed the Richmond Marathon (don't ask my time either... that's as bad as asking a lady's age, for goodness sake!) in 2004. I didn't think I ever wanted to run another Marathon again... but Karnazes' book got me to thinking.

Dean Karnazes is a man who takes himself to the very edges of human possibility, essentially, just to see how far he can go. Finishing a race, whether it is a 100-miler through the hottest dessert or a Marathon to the South Pole in conditions no human has ever successfully endured, is paramount over the mileage, the injuries, the delusions, the sacrifice or the prize. To quote him, he runs with his heart.

This book was a quick, easy read. Karnazes is not unusual in his quest to see just how far he can go. (I even have a personal friend who professionally races double and triple Ironman races... read about him here...) There are lots more (okay... some more) guys out there with just as much heart, guts and strength. But what I find remarkable about Dean Karnazes is that despite his accolades and triumphs (he often places close to the top of races he enters) the focus of the book isn't how great he is and how many times he finished in the top five. The focus is on the triumph of one individual over his own demons.

And that, my friends, stirs the demons in my own soul... perhaps there IS another Marathon in my future. (And thanks to Doug Elser for the great suggestion... let me know what your suggestion is!

I Love Paris: Top 10 Things I Learned from My Latest Read

Top 10 Things I Learned from the Book Entre Nous: A Woman's Guide to Finding Your Inner French Girl

10) This book about the enduring allure and mystery of the French woman was a delightful read. Providing one American woman's thoughtful, honest perspective about that je ne sais quoi modern French women seem to possess, the book was both entertaining and informative.

9) If a French woman's fashion sense can be described as, "Less is more," this book wasn't very French. The author's delightful prose is most insightful, carefully pointing out sometimes subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle differences between French and American femmes. But I felt irritated by the frequent distractions of small tidbits of information interspersed in small boxes and sidebars - ie: French women we love; wonderful French Films; delicious recipes. While the information contained in these snippets was good, the boxes they were in were visually distracting, and the information interrupted the reading, causing me to perpetually flip back and forth between pages and interrupting my train of thought.

8) Of all of the cultures I've encountered (which are admittedly very few...), I believe that the French take more pleasure in the day-to-day living of their lives via food than any other culture. Meal time is sacred and special, to be enjoyed with family or friends, and always sitting at a proper table, with dishes, actual silverware (not plastic-ware) and cloth napkins… never out of a paper bag riding down the street in a car, or sipped through a straw while hurrying down the sidewalk. I feel their incorporation of food as a vehicle of pleasure, at every single meal, is not only admirable, but enviable.

7) According to the author, French women are less risky than Americans with their personal styles, but more thoughtful. A French girl spends a lifetime honing her look, in both fashion and décor, slowly collecting only the best items of the finest quality that fit perfectly. When they find a hairstyle, suit cut or objet d’art that works for them they stick to it.

6) This takes us into the realm of the French woman’s “uniform.” After years of collecting only the best quality clothing that she absolutely adores, there will not often be surprises in the French girl's dress, but everything will be beautiful and tasteful and fit her like a glove – even the simple jeans and tee that she pulls on to browse the flea market on a Saturday morning. She will not necessarily have several different “looks,” because the look she wears is always thoughtfully put together and does much to flatter her. While I am personally ALWAYS changing my hair, this theory of dress is something I completely embrace. I have well-worn and -loved items in my closet that I pull out year after year, and I am religious about ONLY keeping the things at hand that fit – no too-small-jeans that I’m going to fit into one day… just the things that look great on me today – thus celebrating where I am, and also making my closet much less cluttered.

5) French women will not usually be overweight. Also, they will never compromise on the quality of food that they eat; however they will likely not ever step a beautifully pedicured toe into a gym. I know. This seems impossible. But, it is true that they always choose only the freshest, seasonal ingredients for their meals, and the naturally eat small portions, helping to keep their waistlines trim. If they DO notice clothing getting a bit too tight, they will not go purchase the newest diet book, torture themselves at the gym or buy new, (larger) clothing (all of which I’ve regretfully resorted to doing at one time or another…). However, they will quietly cut back on their eating until they are feeling back to themselves again.


This concept is one I’ve personally struggled with, but I’m learning to embrace. I have gained and lost weight entirely too many times. As I currently work on the journey back down the scale, I am doing my best to maintain some indulgences, eat delicious foods, including desserts, but just with smaller portions, just like the French girl. I am ridding myself of clothes that have grown too large, eliminating my safety net, and working to exercise daily. Hopefully, this balance will get me, and keep me, fit and trim without having to endure dreadful ingredients like low fat cheese, skim milk and Splenda… things the perpetually thin French woman would never even consider.

4) Despite her shape (thick, thin, curvy, willowy...) a French woman always feels at home in her own body. I don’t think this is just a French feeling, but I believe women all over Europe do not have the negative issues with their body images that American women do. They understand their shapes and they dress to flaunt their assets, period. They celebrate their bodies daily and refine them ritually.That is something we could ALL take a lesson in doing.

3) The French woman nurtures an extremely guarded sense of privacy, often taking years to develop a close frienship, and certainly never spilling her guts to someone she just met in the line at the grocery store. This is highlighted by the title of the book, Entre Nous, meaning, "just between us." This extreme privacy goes a long way toward the perpetuation of the "mystique" French women seemingly possess. One of these tight-lipped women will not even let you know where she bought her new dress, much less will she air her family's dirty laundry to anyone other than a confidant.


Such privacy I can barely fathom. For good or ill, I am an open book. I will tell anyone almost anything, anytime. However, most of American women could take a lesson from the fair Frenchies by not being so forthcoming with the 4-1-1 on where you got your fabulous shoes and just how great the sale was. So, you got that beautiful dress at Target... wouldn't you rather admirers of it to wonder if maybe you've been shopping coture instead of bargain basement? When you get the urge to spill those beans, just bite your tongue... and take a step toward increasing your own feminine mystique.

2) Authenticity goes a long way with the French woman. She might have to save her pennies for months or even years for a fabulous designer handbag, but she would never be caught dead with a knockoff. She does not want imitation (not imitation eggs, imitation leather, or imitation antiques), and she will wait until she can get her hands on the real thing. She doesn't buy things just to be spending money, and doesn't hop on board with the newest pop-star style that she saw on the boob tube (Heck it's likely that she doesn't even own a boob tube.)... I definitely agree with the French ab0ut this! I'm just dreaming of the day I can walk in to a Louis Vuitton store and pay full price for the classy bag I've desired for years...

1) While highly entertaining, this book in large part is highly generalized. Just as there are so many types of American women that volumes could be written about us in categories such as age group, ethnic heritage, region, profession etc, ad nauseum, I belive that French women are just as varied and interesting. A whole country of women who adore cooking, love flea markets and inherit their great grandmother’s antique linens and treasured faience would be boring and absurd. But then again, stereotypes are generally born for a reason…